That Sony Vaio y'all helped me with is now ready to re-enter service

there's just a few things I need to get straight. I will list them.

I wiped the original disc on the VAIO. It has 320 GB and it formatted (NTFS) fine. Now I am trying to decide which 64-bit OS to load.

AS I see it, I have the option of Windows 7, Windows 8 or one or another flavor of Linux (I've had good success with Ubuntu before.) I will confine my remarks to the MS offerings unless you want to talk Linux.

I am using Win7 Pro on this computer. Never had a problem.

I have a laptop running Win8. The learning curve is a wee bit steep but so what? Seems a perfectly adequate OS.

Now, if I were to go with Windows 8, can I install it on a bare drive? I saw on a MS site where it said you can't do it. That doesn't make sense to me.

If I decide on 8, can I install Win 8.1 right from the top?

I think that's enough to get me pointed in the right direction. Many thanks for listening, as usual, guys.

If you have a Retail Win 8 disk yes you can install it on a bare drive. If you have a Win 8 upgrade disk you can, legally, install it on a bare drive if you have a Win 7 disk which is eligible for the upgrade and not installed on another drive. HTH

BTW if you don't like the learning curve for Win 8 you can use it with StartIsBack and you'll think you have Win 7 with Aero turned off.

Since the original OS was Vista, do you have the original installation media? Or perhaps an unused XP or Win 7? All 3 of these do qualify for the Upgrade Media.

You can do a Clean Install from the Upgrade Media. You do however have to have the qualifying OS installed to use the Win 8 Upgrade Media. Simply install whatever OS you wish to use as the qualifying media (does not need any updates, or even activation). Then choose Custom Install for Win 8. On the next screen you will see a link for Advanced (Disk) Options. Highlight the partition you just installed the qualifying OS on and choose Format. This will Format the partition as part of the installation, then continue with the installation of your now very pristine Win 8.

I would choose Win 8 because, IMO, it is the fastest and most secure of the options you have available. You will get many different opinions of this. That is mine!

If you choose Windows 8 make sure there are drivers available for all the internal and external devices. If the device vendor does not supply a driver there may still be one included with Windows 8 but it will almost certainly be a bare bones driver that will allow the device to work but may not enable all the features of the device. See Windows Compatibility Center for additional information.

I'm with RG on this one -- I would go with Windows 8, and I would install StartIsBack.

After using Windows 8 (with StartIsBack) for a few months, I'm convinced that it is a better OS than Windows 7. My experience has been that it is faster and more stable, and it has a very solid feel to it.

If you install StartIsBack, there won't be any learning curve; like RG said, it will operate just like Windows 7.

OK, four copies in stock at the opposite end of my state; of the OEM System Builder edition:

System Builder product may be used:
•As the operating system on a PC you build for personal use.
System Builder product may not be used:
•As an upgrade license for an existing underlying Windows operating system.http://www.microsoft.com/OEM/en/lice...e-license.aspx

Buying a full version of Windows 8
If you want to build your own PC and install Windows 8 or Windows 8 Pro, or want an additional operating system running in either a local virtual machine or separate partition (including a Mac), you can buy the Windows 8 or Windows 8 Pro System Builder products (OEM versions). If available in your country or region, you can buy Windows 8 and Windows 8 Pro System Builder products at participating stores, but you'll need to ask a sales rep for more info. This version doesn't include customer support.http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/w...e-to-windows-8